The Tenth Plenary Session of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO-X) will convene from 15-16 January 2014 in Geneva, Switzerland, followed by the third high-level Ministerial Summit on Friday, 17 January.
GEO-X will be preceded by the GEO Executive Committee Meeting on Tuesday, 14 January. The Committee guides GEO between Plenary sessions; the Plenary is GEO’s annual primary decision-making body. The Ministerial Summit is expected to approve a renewed mandate for GEO through 2025 and to adopt a Declaration containing several high-level recommendations to guide the development of a detailed 2015-2025 Implementation Plan for the GEO System of Systems (GEOSS).

GEO is a voluntary partnership of governments and international organizations that are coordinating efforts to build a GEOSS. GEOSS seeks to link existing and planned observing systems around the world, and support the development of new systems where gaps currently exist, with a view to providing key data to assist decision makers, planners and emergency managers in nine “Societal Benefit Areas”: disasters, health, energy, climate, water, weather, ecosystems, agriculture and biodiversity.

From Sunday, 12 January, to Thursday, 16 January, more than 30 side events will be held in parallel to the Executive Committee and Plenary sessions. Most of them will be forums and panel discussions open to all participants and the general public and will address such issues as agriculture and food security, measuring biodiversity, disaster risk reduction, ocean acidification, water security, land cover, greenhouse gas observation from space, and early warning of cholera.

View of the Geneva International Convention Centre, venue of the event